Moorland fire in 2019 devastated an area of blanket peat moorland the size of about 1,000 football pitches.

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By ben_haworth

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Moorland fire equalled carbon footprint of a small town

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It was 2020, btw. It was a bloody terrible thing. I was up there within an hour of it starting and it was scary to see such massive flames. The moor is very damaged although grass and Heather have grown back on the surface.

A short film I made about the recent fire on Darwen moor. @blackburndarwen @LancashireFRS pic.twitter.com/MEa97GbXkU

— Mr Sparkle (@darwendashers) June 10, 2020

I wasn’t sure if it meant that or the massive 2018 fire on Winter Hill.

Things are visually back to normal up there now and I think shutting the mast road to public motor traffic has been a great move. I did suspect the longer term, less obvious effects might be more negative though.

Good to see this covered anyway.

There were moorland fires in 2019 – can’t recall if Saddleworth or Marsden Moor – possibly both? Either way, it feels like there’s at least one moorland fire somewhere in the Pennines most years in relatively recent history. And, as noted in the article, often started by barbeques

Sadly, I suspect many are started deliberately.

The plant coverage on Smithills, Rivington and Darwen Moors is tinder dry again. But there is still a few muppets out there. I saw a couple flicking their dog ends out of the window on Georges Lane. UU have been out with signs about BBQs as well.

UU (and the Woodland Trust?) are maintaining the fire breaks better now, and there are some beaters situated around the moors too. Spotted a couple on Two Lads last week, but hope we don’t need them.

I live in Marsden and the sound of sirens on a bank holiday weekend is sadly all too frequent. There were around 4 or 5 incidents last year, one of which caused damage over around 700 hectares. Mainly caused by barbecues, or rather those who naively think their barbecue won’t cause a fire.

I’ve been on duty this weekend covering our wildfire response. Despite proactive patrols and lots of signage and social media were still having idiots bbqing on heathland and in pine forests. We’ve had campers wild camping in tinder dry woodlands who have been sat around 1m2 campfires on Saturday afternoon despite 28 degree heat. You’d never believe it if you hadn’t experienced it.

^ numpties everywhere unfortunately. We’ve the same with ‘dirty campers’ around Scottish beauty spots.
I think that many people are not appreciative of fire as a tool and privilege. Like nature deficit / disengagement. I say that as someone who’s organisation trains teachers to light, manage and cook on open fires.

I do fear for the number of possible fheckwhit-started fires that could occur in the Peaks given the bone dry conditions and heat at present.
School holidays in a week to worsen it all.